‘Slapstick’ NLD MP video viewed over 1m times on Internet

An MP from the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) in the Tenasserim regional government has pledged to resolve a local dispute after a video of him slapping a man during a village meeting went viral.

Ye Myint Swe, a lawmaker for Myeik District, had been on a field trip to the village of Pawa to oversee progress on the construction of a new school on 8 April, when some of the local villagers began complaining about shabby workmanship on the doors and window frames of the building. The MP subsequently had a chat with engineers and construction operators at the site, urging them to rework the frames. It was then that a man identified as Tun Hla apparently burst into the room and began loudly voicing his own complaints.

Filmed by another villager on a mobile phone, the video then shows the MP telling Tun Hla not to interrupt. But after Tun Hla kept yelling, the MP walked up to him and slapped him across the face.